ibooks store is only free books - all ancient classics

Same here in Ireland. Only free classics showing up. No choice available. Gave up on iBooks and just use the Kindle app for iPad now.

I have exactly the same problem - I live in the Netherlands and all I can get here on ibooks are ancient classics....! Weird! Why doesn't Apple fix this problem? I thought we were part of the European Union? Ah well - I'll see if I can get the Kindle app, from what I read here it sounds like my best option...

Apple can only sell what they are licensed to sell - if the publishers/copyrightholders havn't given them permission to sell recent/current books in the Netherlands then they can't sell them. Here in the UK there is a bigger range on Amazon/Kindle anyway.

Yes- by now I've downloaded Kindle, and have already bought a book from them, works fine and they appear to have a wide range of books. Perhaps the problem is that Apple is not (yet) as big in the Netherlands? Or they assume that Dutch people don't read much English anyway?

Same here in Japan.

Try using Kindle.app, Nook or Googlebooks instead.

I live in Hong Kong too. I got the same problem since I started using I iPad and iPhone last year. I turned to use Kindle instead. But I still hope I could make purchase through iBooks one day.

Why can't Apple obtain licences which are globally applicable? Valid only in US? Only US read English?

Part of the problem with the ibookstore is that it is a pain to set up with. So many smaller publishers don't have accounts with them yet.

On major publishing houses, the agency pricing and their own limiting of liscences is the issue. Due to a legacy system in place many of the big houses have different contracts going in different countries for authors. The big houses have not been able to adapt the systems yet to the more global distribution network.

The big publishing houses are being drawn into this new era kicking and screaming that they don't want to go!

Amy

Amy - I see your point (I think - not that familiar with the publishing scene) but then, why is Kindle able to put so many books online while Apple is not? Wouldn't Kindle have the same problem? Of course, they have been around a bit longer than ibooks; so maybe it's just a matter of time....

Actually, Amazon is super easy to set up with. Their own KDP (Kindle Direct Pubilshing) makes it wonderfully easy to self publish and for smaller publishing houses. They have worked out agreements with the major publishing houses, the big houses actually started Agency pricing because of Amazon. Amazon was discounting their ebooks and selling them at little to no profit and sometimes even a loss. Amazon is are more focused on their ebook sales.

The major publishers are still having issues releasing their ebooks in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable price. This is a problem across all the ebook selling sites, not just the ibookstore. It still is not as easy as it should be to get any new book released that you want in ebook. As I said legacy contracts are part of the problem and in general the fact that the big publishing houses do NOT want to make these changes. They are big and bulky and are having trouble changing and updating.

Geo-restrictions are annoying are set by the publisher, not Amazon or Apple. Contracts are why some stuff is available worldwide and some stuff is not. Now why they think Geo-restrictions matter on digital goods? I have no clue, personally I don't care where you live if you want to buy one of my books I will sell it to you! Again its contracts (and sometimes just ignorance on how to set stuff up) as to why stuff is not being sold to all markets.

To me it feels like the ibookstore was an add-on by Apple that they HAD to do, and only put the bare minimum of work into it. I am really not joking when I say its a pain to set up with them.

Amy

in addition to the conversation:

i have recently downloaded “Kobo” and “Kindle”. Both do not give you the option to load books directly to my iphone because Apple has set their rules so that you can only order or add books on the websites of each app. I am finding it more and more inconvenient to have this expensive phone. I am already annoyed that China is censoring my television and radio here in Hong Kong, but now it seems the influence is infiltrating the corporate world back in the States as well. Maybe I’m wrong in my assumptions, but I don’t want to read “Alice in Wonderland” or see “Aristotle” in the fiction section. So now that I have to go to another website at home and find the books I want; how then do I read them on my phone? when i open my itunes i don't see a file that says books under devices. :-(

With Kindle, you buy ebooks at Amazon website. The copy does not go to your iTunes.

Once your order is confirmed at Amazon, when you sign in to your kindle app, automatic search and sync occur instantly (of course you must be wirelessly connected). You will get your copy anywhere on the surface of earth on any devices with kindle installed.

I think Kobo works similarly.

If the Books section isn't showing on your computer's iTunes then make sure that Books is ticked on the General tab in Edit > Preferences. Books shows as a tab on the device on the right-hand side of iTunes, not under the device name on the left ( and the tab syncs to the iBooks app not to other apps).

To get books bought from Amazon into the Kindle app you use the Kindle app (there should an Archived Items button at the bottom), and similarly Kobo books are loaded via the app (on an iPad I drag the bookshelf down and it then refreshes which any new purchases from their site).

Apple introduced rules that meant that 30% of anything that was bought from within an app had to paid to them. So Amazon and Kobo decided rather than paying that they would remove the Store buttons from within their apps - which for Kindle all it did was take you to a browser anyway, so all that has changed is that you have to go to their website yourself instead of pressing a button.

Books that you buy on other sites, if they don't have any digital rights management which would then tie them to that store's app, can be loaded onto the device via the Books tab (for iBooks), or via the file sharing section at the bottom of the device's apps tab (Kindle and Kobo show there for me)

Here in India too the problem is the identical. The iBooks store only let's you purchase (without paying anything) and download really ancient publications which are free of any copyrights. Nothing that is more contemporary.

The same is the problem when you try to purchase music on the iTunes music store. I first thout it ws something to do with some financial regulations imposed by the Indian Government; however, I reasised soon thwt tht was not the case at all. It is something wierd with the stores.

The most ironical thing is that you can purchase Apps on the AppStore and pay for them using your Credit Card with an address in India.

I know that if the address is faked, the paid content on both iTunes and iBooks open up. (I have seen someone do this.)

Here is what I could infer: You need to have an address in the UK, the US, or some other locations that apple has qualified to be countries from where you can purchase paid content to shop for music and books on iTunes and iBooks. Although younger not permitted to pay and download books nd music, you may pay and download software without any restrictions. This is really weird.

Additionally, please note - People I know who use the Kindle (device) can pay and download just about any content without any restrictions whatsoever.

Ajit